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Clinton campaign blames 3rd-party candidates for defeat

Supporters of US Democratic Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton react as a state is called in favor of her opponent, President-elect Donald Trump in Sydney, Australia. (Photo by Reuters)

After blaming the FBI and low educated voters for Hillary Clinton’s defeat, the former Democratic presidential nominee’s campaign has turned its attention to third-party candidates and their supporters.

Clinton’s supporters rushed to various social networking sites on Wednesday to expresses their fury at people who voted for Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson and Green Party nominee Jill Stein for ending Clinton’s White House ambitions.

The former secretary of state’s camp believed she would have beaten Republican president-elect Donald Trump with the help of third-party voters, since in some key states, the gap between the two candidates was smaller than the total votes given to Stein and Johnson.

Despite winning the popular vote, Clinton lost the race to Trump by electoral votes, 289 to 228.

Johnson and Stein trailed far behind the two top dogs, with the former winning around 3 million votes and the latter taking a little over 1 million.

However, this is a significant achievement for the two third-party candidates, who had failed to reach the 1-million mark in the 2012 election cycle.

What Clinton’s fans are missing though, is the fact that the former first lady and Trump were two of the most unpopular candidates in US election history.

Only one day before the November 8 election, an ABC News/Washington Post survey showed that 60 percent of voters had an unfavorable view of Trump, while 56 percent said the same about his Democratic rival.

The unprecedented unpopularity gave boost to a growing demand for a third option, providing Johnson and Stein with their best chances to compete.

(L to R) Former Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton, President-elect Donald Trump, former Libertarian nominee Gary Johnson and former Green Party nominee Jill Stein

President Barack Obama, who spared no effort to garner support for Clinton, knew that third-party candidates might put Clinton in trouble.

“If you don’t vote that’s a vote for Trump. If you vote for a third-party candidate who has got no chance to win, that’s a vote for Trump,” the outgoing president said in late September.

Clinton’s supporters have also accused Trump’s supporters of being racist and uneducated.

They also blamed FBI Director James Comey for reopening an investigation into Clinton’s emails, saying it ultimately led to her crushing defeat by damaging her reputation.


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